Born with blue in his collar instead of his veins, best-selling author Dean Cassidy chronicles his soul-scarring rise from New York's darkest alleys to a place high atop the literary world. Unlikely and difficult as such a climb is, there's yet another force working against Dean. He is forever haunted by treasured memories of Theresa Wayman, his long-estranged teenage soul-mate.
Theresa! Theresa! Theresa! She just won't go away!
Dean's loving recollections of Theresa continually taint his twenty-year marriage to Maddy Frances--a woman so giving (and forgiving) she should be canonized a living saint. But it's Theresa, not his wife, who Dean feels standing at his side every time he loses a job. She's alongside him when he actually goes postal on one. She shares all his fury and desperation as he forever tries to fight back the inevitable corporate takeover of his family. She's center-stage in Dean's mind and far too deep in his heart the day Maddy Frances finds him unconscious at a botched suicide attempt--a time-faded photograph of Theresa clenched in his hands.
In spite of it all, Maddy's love never wavers. And eventually, thanks to her undying allegiance, Dean's ship does come to port. He gets a novel published, and defying all odds, the book commandeers every bestseller list in the country. But then, just when it seems their money problems are over, the test of all tests comes along.
It took me two and a half years to write Beyond Nostalgia, on a part time basis. While doing the seven drafts I laughed, I cried, and I even got turned on a few times. I loved the process and I hated it. When I finished it twelve years ago, I sent out a fair amount of queries. Two or three agents showed interest – read a few chapters — but there was no cigar. Disgustedly, I threw the manuscript into a closet, and there it stayed for eleven years. Alongside it, on that closet floor, I left a piece of my soul.
I have no doubt that it will be huge once it gets the attention of the right people, and be compulsory reading in schools one day. For me it was on par with Harper Lee, JD Salinger or John Steinbeck as American social commentary, and whoever first compared it to Gone With the Wind got it spot on.
Mark Williams—Mark Williams International
It's very difficult to write what is called a literary novel without coming across as wordy or plain rambling. I find Faulkner and Joyce and Lawrence, among others, all too fond of the sound of their own words and unable to "get on with it". There is no merit in words for their own sake in a novel: the object is to tell a story and take the reader's imagination and keep it. You've done that brilliantly. All the usual trite approvals with regard to voice, scene setting and dialogue apply, so I won't insult you by adding to them.
Nicholas Boving
You write about romance, and that includes sexual activity, in a way that is moving and never salacious, I think you understand women and you love your characters; why shouldn't the reader fall for them too? All in all, Tom, it's a very powerful, very well told piece of history. It entertains, it has a moral and it speaks to the spirit. What reader can ask for more?
Lee Shore
I love it when I find a book so touching like yours. The story itself is the force of it all, you capture human emotions going against real life obstacles. You've done a wonderful job and it took me a while to find the words fit for a comment. Even so, I find them useless, all I can say it's been a beautifully haunting read. Congratulations and I wish you the best of luck with it.
Julia Siboney--Children of Light
Beyond Nostalgia is a story told with such tenderness and depth that it will break your heart. Though not sappy-sweet in sentimentality, it is warm and loving. It evokes our own fragile memories of that true and eternal love that happens but once in a lifetime and of making choices that will sometimes haunt us forever. It reaches out and grabs the hopeless romantic in all of us. The vivid imagery of his New York neighborhood and the memories of an unforgettable bygone era will touch many of his readers, but in the end, it will be the moving story of two young lovers and the heartbreaking cards they are dealt that will have readers reaching for the Kleenex and reminiscing about the one that got away and took their hearts with them. Powerful in its simplicity and honesty.
Isabel Lopez
My goodness! Your book is wicked! You write with such a unique voice, it's like I'm the person narrating your story, and I already feel what's happening, happened, and will happen even though I don't know what is, did, and will. That is remarkable. Your premise is engaging, and will appeal to many people, particularly Americans who will love the USA setting and Americana environment in your story. It's like your book is a Billy Joel song, but in book form! I am definitely backing this baby!
Kevin Wong--Author of Heroes of Destiny
Oh Thomas,
I absolutely love your story. The place, the pacing, the sweet youth of Theresa and Dean, you have captured it all, the language. I have no idea why, but I kept thinking about Eddie and the Cruisers all through the story, and I don't even remember what that movie was about.. Dean's voice (your writing) is so perfect. I feel him peeling off the shells of the protective coating he's layered to protect himself and her. This is about more than love it is about intimacy, opening your heart and soul.
K.C. Hart
If you're an author or publisher, you've come to the right place. BookBuzzr provides one of the most comprehensive set of book-marketing technologies and services in the world. We're constantly adding new features in a race with ourselves to build technologies that will help your books fly out of book-stores.
